Price Sirki Escorts a LOTR Production Alumni Into the West for the Third Time This Year.

It was learned early this morning that Oscar winning Sound Editor, Mike Hopkins, was killed in a rafting accident. Mr. Hopkins won Oscars for Sound Editing on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers (2002)and King Kong (2005). He did sound for all three of Jackson’s Tolkien trilogy adaptations, as well.

This sadly marks the third loss of a member of the LOTR production ‘family’ this year. A few weeks ago, just days after the world premiere of Jackson’s The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey (2012), Weta Digital Executive Producer Eileen Moran passed away after a long bout with cancer. Ms. Moran also worked on all three LOTR films. Finally, Swordmaster Bob Anderson, perhaps more famously known as the man in the Darth Vader costume during the lightsaber duels in the original Star Wars trilogy, trained the LOTR cast in various forms of armed combat. Tomorrow, January 1, will be the first anniversary of his passing.